LCD monitors and TVs are the fastest-growing display technology in the world. Here's everything you need to know about how they work and how they're made.
Available in all shapes, sizes, and resolutions, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are everywhere these days — from the screen on your notebook computer and the big-screen HDTV in your family room to the airline information screens at the airport and electronic menus at your local fast food joint. In fact, it seems like everyone and their brother is either manufacturing or selling LCD TVs, which are the most popular LCD product category for consumers.
Some of the brands you probably immediately recognize like Samsung, LG, and Sharp. Others you may have heard of include Westinghouse, Vizio, Polaroid, and Syntax Olevia. Then there are the companies, such as Chi Mei Optoelectronics and AU Optronics, you might not know at all. Yet all of these names are important in the world of LCD displays — from manufacturing to retailing.
Long time coming
LCD technology isn't new. In fact, the first discoveries of liquid-crystal birefringence — the ability to split beams of light into two polarized planes — were made in the 1880s in Austria. In the 1950s and 1960s, RCA Corp. performed detailed research into liquid crystals, investigating the possibility that they could be the basis of a new lightweight, low-power display technology.
In the 1970s, after RCA discontinued its efforts, Japanese companies, spearheaded by Sharp and Casio, took the lead in commercializing LCDs, including monochrome calculators and watches. Color LCD screens made their debut in the 1980s, followed by overhead projection panels and notebook computers in the early 1990s, and small, low-resolution televisions.
For years, the largest LCD TVs and monitors couldn't exceed 30 inches without manufacturing sleight-of-hand, such as precision stitching of smaller panels to achieve larger sizes. The real breakthroughs came about the turn of the 21st century when the first one-piece, 40-inch diagonal LCD panels were introduced.
Today, single-cut LCD panels with diagonal sizes of 108 inches have been shown, and 1080p LCD HDTVs as large as 52 inches are available at retail for less than $4,000. To put things in perspective, Sharp's 28-inch LCD monitor from 1999 — a breakthrough product at the time — was priced at $15,000!
In recent years, prices have dropped so fast on LCD HDTV products that it's causing major headaches for well-known brands. What's behind this downward price pressure? Lots and lots of manufacturing capacity, particularly in Taiwan and China. In less than a decade, LCDs have gone from an expensive niche technology to ubiquitous. Many analysts even predict they'll kill off the venerable cathode-ray tube (CRT) in the near future.
